u.s. stock-index futures rise

U.S. Stock-Index Futures Rise; Texas Instruments, Yahoo Gain
April 19 (Bloomberg) --

U.S. stock-index futures climbed after sales from Texas Instruments Inc. and Yahoo! Inc. topped estimates, stoking speculation that benchmarks may add to their biggest jump in over a year yesterday.

Both stocks rose in Europe, as did International Business Machines Corp., which reported higher profit after U.S. markets closed. Twenty-five companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index are scheduled to report today, including Pfizer Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co.

S&P 500 futures expiring in June added 3.7 to 1317.2 at 10:28 a.m. in London. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 19 to 11,327. Nasdaq-100 Index futures gained 7.75 to 1747.5.

Federal Reserve minutes released yesterday encouraged speculation that the central bank's 21-month-old policy of higher interest rates may be coming to an end.

``Good earnings, together with the dovish Fed comments yesterday, are causing a rally in markets,'' said Jonathan Monk, who helps oversee $1 billion at Aerion Fund Management Ltd. in London.

S&P 500 members will post 10.4 percent profit growth for the January-to-March period, according to Thomson Financial on April 13, based on analysts' estimates and reported results. That would mark the 11th straight quarter of at least 10 percent growth, making it the second-longest streak since 1950, according to Thomson.

``Now we've got companies starting to put up pretty powerful earnings numbers, and the market's responding to that,'' said Scott Billeadeau, who helps oversee $22 billion at Fifth Third Asset Management in Minneapolis.

Sales Top Estimates

Texas Instruments, the world's No. 1 maker of chips for mobile phones, climbed $1.20 to $35.20 in Germany. Yahoo, owner of the most-visited U.S. Web site, gained $1.68 to $32.98.

Texas Instruments yesterday said after markets closed that first-quarter revenue increased to $3.33 billion as handset sales surged in China and India. Analysts in a Thomson Financial survey expected $3.29 billion.

Yahoo's first-quarter profit rose 16 percent to $159.9 million as users bought more display advertisements. Net sales, which reflect the cost to sell ads on other sites, were $1.09 billion, beating the $1.08 billion estimate of Jefferies & Co.'s Youssef Squali, ranked the most accurate Internet analyst by StarMine Corp. Yahoo also reported after the close.

IBM added 57 cents to $83.88 in Germany. The world's biggest computer-services provider said profit last quarter rose 22 percent to $1.71 billion as the company cut jobs and emerging-market sales rose.

Earnings Expected

Shares of Intel Corp., the world's biggest chipmaker, Apple Computer Inc., the maker of iPod music players, EBay Inc. and Qualcomm Inc. rose. All four companies are scheduled to report after the market closes.

Apple gained 93 cents to $66.15. EBay, the world's largest Internet auctioneer, added 51 cents to $39.39. Qualcomm, the world's second-largest mobile-phone chipmaker, gained 25 cents to $52.28 in Germany. Intel added 7 cents to $19.46 in Germany.

Pfizer, the world's largest drugmaker, JPMorgan, the No. 3 U.S. bank, Coca-Cola Co. and Honeywell International Inc. are among companies due to release earnings before exchanges open.

Pfizer added 12 cents to $25.03. Coca-Cola, the world's biggest soft-drink maker, fell 4 cents to $41.26 in Germany. Honeywell, the world's largest maker of building controls, fell 16 cents to $43.99. JPMorgan didn't trade in Europe.

Motorola, Amgen Drop

Motorola Inc. slid $1.45 to $22.63 in Germany. The world's No. 2 mobile-telephone maker's profit margins shrank to 8.9 percent from 10.5 percent, the narrowest in two years. Net income dropped to $686 million, or 27 cents a share. Profit before a 2-cent charge matched the 29-cent prediction of analysts in a Thomson survey.

Amgen Inc. lost 55 cents to $70.41 in Germany. The world's biggest biotechnology company said in a statement that it had first-quarter revenue of $3.22 billion, less than the mean estimate of $3.34 billion from 16 analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.

NYSE Group Inc., which also reports today after markets close, added 45 cents to $73.25 in Germany. The operator of the New York Stock Exchange has held talks with Euronext NV, which runs several European securities exchanges, to discuss possible agreements, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter. A Euronext spokesman declined to comment, according to the newspaper.

Yesterday, Reuters reported that NYSE Group approached several London Stock Exchange Plc shareholders to buy their stakes.

Nasdaq Stock Market Inc., the largest U.S. electronic stock market, said on April 11 that it had bought a 15 percent stake in LSE, making it the largest shareholder. Nasdaq shares didn't trade in Europe.

Apache Gains

Apache Corp. rose $1.91 to $72.14 in Germany. The Houston- based oil and gas producer will buy all of BP Plc's oil and gas fields on the Gulf of Mexico's continental shelf for $1.3 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing the company.

Under the transaction, which may be announced today, Apache will acquire 18 fields with proven reserves of the oil and gas equivalent of about 57.8 million barrels, according to the report. That amounts to about $22 a barrel at a time when oil is around $70 a barrel.

Aztar Corp., the owner of the Tropicana casino in Las Vegas, is close to agreeing to sell the business to Pinnacle Entertainment Inc. for about $1.5 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation.

The Journal was unable to reach an Aztar spokesman for comment. Neither company's shares traded in Europe.

Consumer Prices

A report from the Labor Department later today may show that consumer prices accelerated in March, led by higher gasoline costs.

Americans probably paid 0.4 percent more for goods and services last month after an increase of 0.1 percent in February, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Excluding food and energy, prices probably climbed 0.2 percent in March, up from 0.1 percent the month before.

Minutes from a Fed policy meeting yesterday showed the central bank may soon stop raising rates after 15 increases since June 2004. The release of the minutes extended a rally that started after a government report showed prices paid to producers rose less than forecast last month, excluding food and energy.

Yesterday the S&P 500 rose 22.32, or 1.7 percent, to 1307.65, the most since April 21, 2005. The Dow average climbed 194.99, or 1.8 percent, to 11,268.77. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 44.98, or 2 percent, to 2356.14. indexes had their biggest jump since April 21 of last year.